


free falling (right into you)

by akajung



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Developing Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 17:03:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14406552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akajung/pseuds/akajung
Summary: Jeno finds what (who) he hasn't been looking for.





	free falling (right into you)

**Author's Note:**

> pls accept this dumb half-assed 6 hours' worth of my love for my moon-eyed boy jeno... 18 years old (intl age) wow a pretty number... he's grown sm. i will continue to love & support you for years to come T__T
> 
> unrelated but also dedicated to my baby maria who /also/ turned 18 today! she's my rl jeno and i'm lucky to have her <3

Jeno doesn’t believe in a lot of things, but most of all, he doesn’t believe in the number _13_ written by life on the underside of his arm.

“What a number,” Donghyuck once said, when he’d asked whether or not Jeno has a soulmate sort of a mark on his body. “Bad luck, man, bad luck.”

Jeno just shrugged. “You never know.”

Donghyuck is equally as disbelieving of the concept as Jeno is. Maybe this is why they’re friends in the first place, because Donghyuck doesn’t want to talk to anyone – but Jeno – about the number on the side of his neck, and Jeno hides his own number under his sleeves. They both go around like this, pretending that they aren’t made by the universe to forever search for their other half, be it real or not, everyday, for years. Pretending that despite everything they’ve said, they will never feel complete until the fated day comes.

For better or worse.

 

 

“This is bullshit. You could be my soulmate for all I know,” Donghyuck says one day, when they’re both sitting on the rooftop of Jeno’s house waiting for the sun to set. Jeno realizes that despite their constant reiteration that they don’t believe in it, they seem to talk about this a lot. “Which, I admit, wouldn’t be too bad, but ew. We’ve been friends for so long that we don’t even need to be soulmates to match.”

Jeno pauses. “That is actually very sweet of you, Hyuck.”

“Sugary—that’s me.”

“Stop. Don’t push it.”

Donghyuck laughs. His voice fills the static air. Jeno tears his gaze away from his friend to see the sky, which has now changed from bright yellow to a very beautiful hue of purple.

“What if one day you find your soulmate?” Jeno asks Donghyuck. “Like, real flesh and soul. You’re walking down the street, then you bump against someone, and bam. Your number turns red.”

“I probably won’t realize until days later because I can’t see my own neck without a mirror, smartass,” Donghyuck replies lightly. “You have it easy, Jeno.”

Jeno ignores his last remark. He picks on his shoelaces, lost in thought. Is the reason he doesn’t believe in soulmate because he hasn’t found his yet? Or is it something else entirely?

“What if your soulmate turns out to be someone you hate?”

Donghyuck doesn’t even hesitate. “I don’t mind. I’ll make their life hell regardless.”

Jeno laughs, because it warms his heart that Donghyuck still doesn’t want to make finding his other half the very purpose of his life, like most people do. He’s relieved because he doesn’t want to make it his, either, and having a solid company when you’re going against the way world works is nice.

 

 

Jeno’s number turns red on Na Jaemin’s seventeenth birthday, which is coincidentally also the very first day he meets him.

Truth be told, Jeno doesn’t have a lot of expectation for his last school trip in high school. He never did. It’s the usual drill; everyone is loud and overexcited inside of the bus, and Jeno has to raise the volume of his music to keep himself away from other things. He sleeps almost the whole way there, Donghyuck’s head on his shoulder, until they arrive at their last destination: the neighboring town shrine.

“We’ve been here many times before,” Donghyuck complains under his breath, when the bus door opens. “Why are we here again?”

Jeno just grins and elbows his best friend lightly in the chest. He doesn’t bother replying because Donghyuck knows _exactly_ why Jeno agreed to go on this trip despite knowing it would be an absolute bore. Donghyuck sighs in defeat and pulls himself up from the seat. He snatches his backpack from between their knees and walks out the bus with Jeno in tow.

Jeno has taken the shrine tour more than a few times now, so he can afford not to listen to the guide talking. Instead, he focuses his attention on visitors other than the students from his school. He notices that there’s a small number of foreigners today. There’s also a bunch of students from other school who seem to be having their own school trip, as well.

A couple of boys in white-and-green uniform catch his attention. They’re standing a bit far from the rest of their friends, a little in the back. They are both lanky and thin; one of them wears round glasses and is fiddling with his phone, typing quickly with one hand; the other is quiet-looking with pouty mouth and pretty eyelashes. Jeno instinctively straightens himself. He narrows his eyes to see better, because… wow.

Those are some _really_ pretty eyelashes. Jeno doesn’t know how he could notice that when they’re more than a few feet apart, but he did anyway.

“…wishing tree.”

Donghyuck’s voice echoes in his ears. Jeno barely catches the end of it.

“Sorry, what?”

Donghyuck sighs. “We’re going to your favorite place, the wishing tree. Do you want to do this or nah?”

“Why, would you rather go back to the bus and nap?”

“Yeah.”

Jeno pretends to consider this just to mock Donghyuck. “No. We’re wishing.”

He ignores Donghyuck’s groans all the way to the wishing tree.

 

 

This is Jeno’s favorite place.

(Arguably though. He’s quite in love with his bed.)

They have indeed visited the shrine before this. Once on another school trip during their first year, and twice on their own trip during the holidays. Donghyuck has learned to leave him alone the moment they reach the last step of the stairs; he detaches his arm from Jeno’s and goes to a different direction until much later, after Jeno is done doing his wishing business and will come searching for him.

It’s not dark yet, but the wishing tree still has blinking lights adorned all over the branches. Jeno has seen this tree once during nighttime before, and it is still the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. It’s not nearly as impressive during the day, but still makes him feel at ease, somewhat. Maybe it’s because here he’s allowed to feel sentimental. Maybe it’s because here he’s allowed to be honest and think about himself.

When one is soppy, they appreciate beauty more than they usually do. Donghyuck’s words, not his.

Jeno takes out a piece of paper and a pen from his bag. He crouches down and places the paper on his knee before he starts writing on it. He’s done this before. He knows exactly what to write.

_May I find what I have or have not been looking for._

The moment his pen slides off the paper, he feels as if a hefty burden has just left his shoulders. Weird, because he never really remembers about it until he’s here and done writing that. Jeno stares at the paper once more, reading and rereading the sentence over and over again until it’s burned on the back of his mind. Then he gets up and immediately bumps against someone who has been standing behind him the whole time.

“Whoa,” Jeno says, the exact same time the other boy lets out a, “Sorry!”

They both stare at each other, and Jeno suddenly realizes that this boy is the one he was staring at earlier: all the pretty lashes and nice lips and soft-looking hair. Jeno steps back, a little disoriented. Then the boy smiles at him, and he’s no longer just disoriented – he’s completely at sea.

“I was wondering if I could, uh, borrow a pen,” he says. His voice is a little strange, dry in a sweet way. Jeno can’t think properly.

“Oh,” Jeno says dumbly. “Yes. Yes, of course.” His hand is shaky when he gives his pen to the boy, who murmurs a soft _thanks, I’ll return it later,_ before he moves closer to the wishing tree, Jeno’s pen in hand and his own paper in another.

Jeno watches as the boy writes his wish and then hangs his paper, all the while still holding Jeno’s pen in between his fingers, never letting it go or putting it down even once.

 

 

When he returns Jeno’s pen a few minutes later, he tells Jeno his name: Na Jaemin, and Jeno tells him his name back: Lee Jeno. Jaemin is actually from the same town as Jeno is, and he’s also on his last school trip in high school. He also, coincidentally – _completely_ coincindentally because Jeno still refuses to believe in fate – loves the wishing tree as much as Jeno does.

“First visited when I was five,” Jaemin tells him. “I still visit every year, just because.”

“Is that so?” Jeno asks. He’s actually impressed, and also a little smitten by the way Jaemin’s eyelashes flutter when he blinks. Is he doing that on purpose? Probably not, it looks like something that’ll take too much effort to do continuously. “Have you ever seen this tree during nighttime? It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” Except maybe now for Jaemin’s eyes, but that’s a different matter altogether.

“Oh, please,” Jaemin says with a snort. “Who do you think I am?”

He whips out his phone and shows Jeno his lockscreen, which is a picture of the wishing tree in front of them, only during the dark. The picture was taken perfectly, good angle and all; the tree lights look like bright stars meandering in between branches and papers. Jeno looks up to Jaemin in awe.

“You’re something else,” Jeno says.

“ _You_ are something else,” Jaemin shoots back. He smiles at Jeno and puts his phone back in his pocket. “I’ve never met a fellow student so fascinated by this tree before.”

Before Jeno loses his courage, he splutters out, “What did you wish for?”

Jaemin tilts his head a little to the side. “Wishes don’t come true if you tell them.”

“You know I can just walk there and read what you wrote, right?”

Jaemin laughs out loud. “You’re right. Be my guest, then.”

Jeno actually walks up to the tree and reaches up to flip Jaemin’s wish with his hand; his handwriting is a little messy because maybe he wrote it too quickly, but Jeno can still read what he wished for.

 

_I wish myself a happy birthday._

 

“It’s your birthday today?” Jeno asks, a little taken aback by such a simple wish. Jaemin grins and nods, putting up both of his hands.

“I’m seventeen now.”

“Wow. Happy birthday, Jaemin.”

“Thanks.” Jaemin’s smile is almost blinding. Jeno shakes his head and laughs it off, letting go of Jaemin’s paper. “How about you, Jeno? What did you wish for?” Then Jaemin pauses. “What do you _always_ wish for?”

Jeno is at loss of words. He knows precisely what he has always wished for. He just… doesn’t really want to be honest, because it feels embarrassing, somehow. He can’t figure out why he feels that way; he just does.

Jaemin catches on his discomfort. “You don’t have to tell me if it’s something personal.”

“Nah, no. It’s not that deep.” Jeno rubs the back of his neck. “I just want to find what I haven’t been looking for, I guess.”

A few seconds of silence.

“Oh?” Jaemin asks, his voice teasing, and Jeno’s face grows hot. He shouldn’t have said anything, he really shouldn’t have. “That sounds pretty… intricate. I wouldn’t expect it from someone like you.”

“What do you mean ‘someone like me’,” Jeno demands. “That sounded like an insult.”

“It’s more of a compliment if you ask me, Jeno, but alright,” Jaemin says. Then he giggles, which he _totally_ didn’t have to do because Jeno is already too hooked as it is. “Give me your phone number. We can meet up sometimes. Hang and talk about stupid teenage wishes.”

Jeno reminds himself to breathe. “Yeah, that sounds cool.”

 

 

“Jeno,” Donghyuck suddenly says, and Jeno, who still can’t quite get his mind off Jaemin’s smile right before they parted at the shrine gate, startles when Donghyuck wraps his fingers around Jeno’s wrist and yanks his hand upward. “Jeno, _look_.”

Jeno blinks owlishly at Donghyuck, then at his hand. “What now?”

“Your number, moron,” Donghyuck snaps. He points at the number _13_ on Jeno’s forearm, which has now turned bright red in color. “It’s red. It’s red, Jeno. Who did you meet just now? Who’s the lucky one, huh?”

“Uh…”

There’s only one name that comes to his mind, really, but it could’ve been anyone. Jeno has met a lot of new people today. A girl from the next class on his way out of the bus earlier. The lanky glasses boy that waited for Jaemin on the bottom steps, who briefly introduced himself as “Mark” something before they both left.

None of them made his heart race like Jaemin did, though, but Jeno doesn’t want to hope. He doesn’t _dare_ to hope. He’s flailing his hands in the dark, blindly searching for the other end of the string that is his questionable yet total connection with someone else – preferably Jaemin, but whatever.

“Oh my god,” Donghyuck continues to whisper-yell when Jeno still doesn’t answer properly. A few heads slightly turn their way, so Donghyuck lowers his voice even more. “Unbelievable. You met your other half today, you traitor, and you don’t even know who it was! I’m almost ashamed of you.”

“Listen, it’s not my fault,” Jeno says. He tugs his hand away from Donghyuck’s grip and rolls his eyes at him. “I wouldn’t even notice the number’s turned red if you hadn’t told me.”

“So who is it?”

“I literally have no idea.” Lies. He has some ideas, he just doesn’t want to tell Donghyuck. “It could’ve been anyone.” Yes, it could’ve, but Jeno only wants it to be one person.

Donghyuck scowls, seemingly unsatisfied by Jeno’s limited answer. “What if you never meet them again? Won’t you be bummed?”

Jeno thinks about this for the rest of the trip. If he never meets Jaemin again… yeah, he will be bummed, but doesn’t he already have his number?

 

 

A few hours later, when they get off the bus at 9 PM, Jeno’s sleepy eyes catch a sliver of red on Donghyuck’s neck. At first he doesn’t pay it any mind – he just woke up from an uncomfortable two-hours nap that has left his neck barely operative, he can barely give a damn about anything at this point – but then Donghyuck bends down to tie his laces and the streetlight casts a bright glow on his tan skin, and Jeno stares.

He keeps on staring at the number _02_ on Donghyuck’s neck, also bright red in color.

“Donghyuck,” Jeno finally calls out. His throat is dry and his voice sounds weird because he hasn’t talked in awhile. “Donghyuck, who did you meet today?”

“The hell you on?”

Jeno taps lightly on Donghyuck’s neck, right at his number. “Your number, dumbass. Your number—it’s also red.”

At least Jeno took it better than Donghyuck does.

 

 

Jeno counts exactly four days after the school trip before Jaemin texts him first: _hey, how are you?_

They chat for a bit until Jeno falls asleep on top of his coursework; he wakes up in the morning with his back all sore because he’s never slept on his study desk before. He opens his phone and sees that Jaemin’s last text was sent on 22:43 PM: _don’t stay up too late._

 

 

Their second encounter wasn’t planned, but Jeno isn’t complaining.

The town plaza is swarming with people. Jeno was supposed to wait for Donghyuck inside of the mall, but it’s a particularly crowded Sunday and Jeno decided he’d rather not find out whether he’s claustrophobic or not. Instead he’s sitting outside at one of the outdoor cafés he and his mother used to frequent when he was younger, playing with the pull strings of his hoodie while waiting for his drink because Donghyuck really is taking his sweet time getting there.

He’s only less peeved when someone pulls the chair across of him and sits himself down on it. That someone has a smile brighter than the sun and eyes prettier than the wishing tree in the neighboring town.

“Hiya,” Jaemin says, and Jeno blinks at him, barely able to believe in his own luck. “What are you doing here, Jeno?”

“What are _you_ doing here?” Jeno retorts.

“Family errand,” Jaemin replies lightly. He points at the plaza. “Supposed to meet my friend here, too, but he canceled.”

“Cancel him, too, then.”

“Funny, because I just did!” Jaemin says, and he really looks elated when he says it. “I like how you think.”

 _And I like you, maybe,_ Jeno wants to reply, but of course he doesn’t. It would be too forward of him, and he doesn’t plan to do anything funny just yet. His mind better agrees with him, though, and stops thinking about stupid lines he could say to Jaemin.

“What are you doing here?” Jaemin asks again, when Jeno just smiles at him. “Also waiting for a friend?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“The look on your face,” Jaemin says, and he makes vague gestures with his hands. “You look like someone who’s had enough of waiting. That’s a familiar look to me.”

“I mean, you’re not wrong.”

“Right.” Jaemin laughs again, and it’s been awhile, so Jeno finds himself getting reacquainted with the sound of his laugh again. He still likes it a lot. “I can relate.”

Jeno takes the risk of pissing Donghyuck off by texting him under the table a few minutes later, telling that he’s going to bail on him because he has a more important matter to tend to. He turns his phone off right after so Donghyuck won’t be able to call him. (He’s probably going to get hurt later, but what wouldn’t he do to stay here with Jaemin for a little while longer?)

 

 

“Your friend’s not coming,” Jaemin says curiously, after they’ve spent the next hour talking about stupid stuff like Jaemin’s favorite school subject and Jeno’s cat allergy. “Are you sure you got the right day?”

“Nah, it’s okay,” Jeno says. “Actually I, uh, cancelled it.”

Jaemin gapes at him. “And why did you do that?”

“Because I want to talk to you more, duh.”

Jaemin continues to stare at Jeno with disbelief painted on his face, but then he bursts out laughing, and Jeno suddenly feels like he’s more prepared to get hurt by Donghyuck tomorrow.

 

 

Jaemin texts him later that night: _we didn’t actually get to talk about stupid teenage wishes._

Jeno tells him that they can next time, and Jaemin agrees.

 

 

They said that, but the next time they meet (planned this time) they don’t talk about wishes, either. Jaemin’s too busy apologizing for spilling coffee all over Jeno’s jeans, and Jeno just laughs and tells him that it’s okay over and over again. It really is okay, because Jaemin’s sad pout is the cutest thing Jeno has ever seen. Moomin be damned.

“I’ll make it up to you somehow,” Jaemin insists, when they get out from the coffee shop and to the main street. He’s still holding on to Jeno’s sleeve tentatively, as if he’s afraid Jeno will suddenly vanish if he lets go.

“Jaemin, you don’t have to,” Jeno says in mock exasperation. “Told you it’s fine.”

“But I _want_ to make it up to you.”

Jeno thinks about this for awhile. “Just go on a date with me next time, and we’ll consider it even.”

If Jaemin’s surprised by his request, he’s good at hiding it. Or maybe he’s just not surprised at all, considering he doesn’t even blink when he says, “But aren’t we already on a date right now?”

Jeno should’ve kept his good mouth shut, because now he’s an idiot with cold legs and a hot face.

 

 

Fortunately, Donghyuck doesn’t kill Jeno for the stunt he pulled last Sunday, but he asks for too much information regarding who Jeno has been spending his afternoons with lately.

“C’mon, you gotta tell me,” Donghyuck persists. “I’m your best friend, Jeno. I have to know if you’ve found the love of your life.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in the whole soulmate thing.”

“I thought _you_ didn’t believe in it, either, but look where we are now,” Donghyuck spicily retorts. “Are you going to tell me or not?”

“I don’t know if he’s my soulmate or not.” Jeno pauses. “Not yet, at least.”

Donghyuck scowls in disappointment. “But you went on a date with him anyway. _Many_ dates, even. Don’t try to lie, I counted. Who is he? Do I know him?”

“Don’t think so. I don’t want you to know him, either,” Jeno says, grinning a little wickedly as he does. “You’re gonna scare him off.”

“I won’t, what the hell. You think so lowly of me.”

“You give me a lot of reasons to,” Jeno tells him. Donghyuck hisses and lets go of Jeno’s arm. “Just kidding, Hyuck. I’ll let you meet him sometimes soon.”

 

 

With the day of their graduation looming over them, peeking just around the corner of the week, Jeno finds more and more things about Jaemin that fascinate him to no end. Sometimes they go to the plaza after school hours, sitting at the same table of the same outdoor café like they did weeks before and switching their drinks with each other. Sometimes Jaemin drags Jeno to the town bridge that oversees the river below to wait for the sun to set, all because Jaemin once said that “orange is a nice color”. Sometimes Jeno falls asleep on Jaemin’s shoulder on the bus, and sometimes Jaemin puts his hand on Jeno’s thigh when he tells him about something he’s greatly interested in.

Jeno has lost count for how long it’s been like this, which is why it surprises him when he wakes up one morning to Jaemin’s good morning texts and thinks: _I think I’m in love with the right person._

When Jaemin is around, Jeno feels like someone lights up the inside of his mind and lets him see where the string is. Lets him see what color it is, even, though it’s a color Jeno can’t describe it with words. Lets him feel like he’s justified to hold onto it, even if he still doesn’t want to believe in it.

His mind doesn’t want to believe, but his body does, so.

 

 

They’re gonna argue about this years to come, but Jeno’s still pretty sure Jaemin kisses him first.

“I want to visit the wishing tree again,” Jaemin says one day.

They’re both leaning on the steel railing of the bridge, Jeno’s eyes a bit blinded by the setting sun. Jaemin had been quiet the whole time until he expressed his wish to see the wishing tree. He sounded so wistful, almost sad, even, that Jeno turns slightly to look at him in worry.

“You should,” he says then. “School’s ended, anyway.”

“Come with me?”

Jeno doesn’t hesitate. “Okay.”

Silence befalls over them again, but not an uncomfortable one. It’s never an uncomfortable silence with Jaemin. The air is warm and serene; Jeno can barely hear anything else over the soft sound of Jaemin’s breathing. Their arms are pressed together, with Jaemin’s hand hanging so close to Jeno’s that he can just hold it if he wants.

He wants to, so he does. He reaches out his hand hold Jaemin’s, enfolding his fingers within his palm tightly. It feels good because he’s wanted to do this for long time, and when he finally does it, it feels like something finally, _finally_ clicks into place inside of him. Jaemin smiles at him, and then pulls their interconnected hands to his chest.

“Your number,” Jeno says, when Jaemin keeps their hands still on his chest. “Where is it?”

Jaemin wordlessly shows Jeno his other hand, shaking the sleeve off his wrist. There, on his forearm and the exact same spot where Jeno’s number is on his own arm, is the number _23_. Bright red in color. Jeno’s breath hitches.

Jaemin momentarily breaks their hands to flip Jeno’s arm so he can see the number inscribed there. Then he looks up at Jeno and gives him the happiest smile Jeno has ever seen him do, and he’s smiled a lot, so this is something. He smiles at Jeno as if he’s just found what he’s been looking for, which might be exactly what’s going on.

“So,” Jeno finally says, when Jaemin just quietly clasps their hands together and holds it to his chest again. “So, are you—“

“I am.”

“And I am—“

“You are.”

 

 

Later on that day, Jeno admits that maybe he _did_ lean his head too close to him for them not to kiss, but it was in fact _Jaemin_ who reached out a hand to cup Jeno’s cheek and kissed him first. Jaemin responds by saying that Jeno was seriously asking for it, and that he wasn’t at fault.

(Jeno’s not blaming him anyway. He’s just grateful that there was no one else around to see them making out against the railing.)

“Confession time,” Jaemin says, when Jeno is busy tearing a piece of paper into a perfect half so he can share it with Jaemin. “I am now regretting the day that I first kissed you on the bridge.”

“Yeah?” Jeno asks, though he’s not too sure what Jaemin is getting at. “Why is that?”

“Call me cliché, Jeno, but I actually wanted to kiss you here,” Jaemin says, a little exasperated. He looks up at the blinking blue-and-white lights of the wishing tree, illuminating the branches and the hanging papers like a set of vivacious small stars. They finally get to see the tree again during nighttime, and Jeno has been missing this a lot more than he thought. “You said this is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, right?”

“Second most beautiful thing now that I’ve found you,” Jeno teases, but Jaemin just scoffs.

“Nice, shut up, but this place still means a lot to me. To you. To us.” Jaemin stops to let out a dreamy sigh. “It would’ve been amazing if we had our first kiss here.”

Jeno frowns at him. “So? Just kiss me again, you weirdo.”

Jaemin immediately shoves Jeno off him, but when he’s done writing his wish and hung it up, he turns around to kiss Jeno anyway.

 

 

“What did you wish for this time?”

“Wishes don’t come true if you tell them.”

“I could just walk there and read what you wrote, like good ol’ times.”

“Nah, it’s okay, I’ll tell you,” Jaemin says. “I want to have you forever. That’s it, that’s all of it. Don’t laugh or I’ll hit you. What did you wish for?”

Jeno just smiles and makes a noncommittal hum. He didn’t wish for anything; he’s crumpled his half of the paper and shoved it inside of his pocket, because he doesn’t feel the need to wish for anything else anymore.

 

 

One day, out of the blue, Jaemin admitted to him, “I lied to you.”

Jeno takes his time answering, because: 1) college application forms are a pain to fill, and 2) Jaemin didn’t sound serious in the first place. Hence, college application forms win his focus more.

Then Jaemin smacks Jeno’s arm, and he yelps.

“ _What?_ ”

“I just told you I lied,” Jaemin repeats impatiently. “I lied to you, Jeno.”

“So? Everyone lies at one point in their lives,” Jeno says. Then he narrows his eyes suspiciously. “Wait, do elaborate what kind of lie are we talking here. Do you not love me? Oh god, did you cheat on me—”

“No, you idiot,” Jaemin says, and he smacks Jeno’s arm again, harder this time. Jeno winces; Jaemin’s gonna bruise him if he keeps doing this. “Remember the first time we met? At the wishing tree?”

“That’s not exactly a day I could ever forget, Nana.”

“Yeah, okay, but I lied that day. I didn’t actually have to borrow your pen.”

Jeno pauses. He looks at Jaemin’s face, at the way the corners of his lips curl up in a proud smile, as if he’s expecting Jeno to give him an applause, or compliment him. Jeno has absolutely no idea where they’re going here. It’s been three months, and Jaemin is still something else. He’s Jeno’s other half, but still something else.

Jaemin sighs when Jeno doesn’t say anything. “I brought my own pen, Jeno. I just wanted a reason to talk to you.”

“Okay.” Jeno blinks. “Why?”

“Because I saw the exact moment my number turned red,” Jaemin says, in a voice sweeter than Donghyuck’s on church choir mode. “And that was when I first looked at you.”

Another short pause.

“You’re absurd,” Jeno finally says, half-laughing now. “It could’ve meant anything. Just because your number turned red when you looked at me… didn't mean anything. Really, you could’ve been wrong.”

“Yeah, could have,” Jaemin says. “But you _are_ my other half, are you not?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Then I was right to go with my guts,” Jaemin says simply. He raises his hand to caress Jeno’s cheek, and Jeno instinctively leans forward to feel more of his touch. “I’ve found you.”

“I have a confession to make, too,” Jeno says, when Jaemin leans in to knock their foreheads together and press feathery kisses on his face. “You’re someone I haven’t been looking for.”

Jaemin doesn’t look offended even for a bit when he pulls away to look at him again. His eyes are droopy, but full of thoughts. “That’s not true.”

“What do you mean it’s not true? It’s how I feel. What do _you_ know about my feelings?”

Jaemin raises an eyebrow. “A lot actually. I've dated you for awhile now.”

“Right. You have a point. But I really haven’t been looking for you. You just… came to me.”

“That’s not true, Jeno,” Jaemin repeats again. His fingers move now to touch Jeno’s lips, gently parting them apart. “That’s not true because you _have_ been looking for me the same way I have been looking for you. I can tell. You have been looking for me; you just don’t want to change the way your mind works.”

Jeno actually laughs at this. “What the hell kind of make-believe is that,” he says, and Jaemin laughs with him. “But I guess we can work with that.”

Even if Jeno hasn’t been looking for Jaemin – which isn’t true, by the way, because he certainly has – he doesn’t care anymore because Jaemin soon kisses all of his beliefs away.

 

 

(“Plus, I was right behind you. I saw what you wrote that day. You wanted to find what you have _and_ haven’t been looking for. Suck it up, moon eyes, you were longing for me.”

“Oh, shut up, you’re ruining this moment.”)

**Author's Note:**

> [DID YOU KNOW THAT NANA GAVE JENO HIS BIRTHDAY GIFT ON TIME](https://twitter.com/xiuchenfinity/status/987999069233668096)
> 
> maybe i'll come around to edit this later e___e but i don't trust myself
> 
> i also have a [cc](https://curiouscat.me/231107) if you wanna chat! feel free to hit me up w/ hcs or q's or anything NCT related


End file.
